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Contributor Guidelines
Submitting guest blogs is open to Global Washington’s members of the Atlas level and above. We value a diversity of opinions on a broad range of subjects of interest to the global health and development community.
Blog article submissions should be 500-1500 words. Photos, graphs, videos, and other art that supports the main themes are strongly encouraged.
You may not be the best writer, and that’s okay. We can help you shape and edit your contribution. The most important thing is that it furthers an important conversation in your field, and that it is relatively jargon-free. Anyone without a background in global development should still be able to engage with your ideas.
If you include statistics or reference current research, please hyperlink your sources in the text, wherever possible.
Have an idea of what you’d like to write about? Let’s continue the conversation! Email comms@globalWA.org and put “Blog Idea” in the subject line.
Posted on February 19, 2010
With the recent earthquake in Haiti and the subsequent reconstruction effort, many different models for rebuilding a nation have been suggested for Haiti. Some argue for a centralized, coordinated aid effort focused on rebuilding Haiti’s economic and social infrastructure. Others warn against the usual development approach to reconstruction, contending foreign aid is no more than a stopgap.
Robert Maguire and Robert Muggah of the Christian Science Monitor present a “middle way,” offering five suggestions for the Haitian reconstruction effort: Decentralize relief efforts, establish a national civic service corps, emphasize public-private partnerships, target capital flow to the poor, and focus on political and social inclusion through responsible investment. To read the full article, please visit the Christian Science Monitor.
Many of these suggestions are in line with Global Washington’s Principles of Aid Effectiveness: Transparency, Coordination, Local Ownership, and Targeting. To learn more about GlobalWA’s Principles of Aid Effectiveness and our suggestions for aid reform, please visit our website, and read our white paper.
Posted on February 18, 2010
Image from the new IFPRI book Millions Fed: see below
THE FY2011 INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS BUDGET AND US DEVELOPMENT POLICY:
Secretary Clinton will appear before the full House Committee on Foreign Affairs, for a hearing on the FY2011 International Affairs Budget and “Promoting Security through Diplomacy and Development,” on February 25.
Aid advocates seem happy with the international affairs budget request, which proposes an increase of 2.8 percent over fiscal 2010, including supplemental funding. See a summary of the international affairs budget request in the Global Washington blog.
The Initiative for Global Development has a new Policy Update on its website, which includes a paper written by IGD on the Business Case for Foreign Aid Reform. It also includes a letter written to Jim Jones and Larry Summers (co-chairs of the Presidential Study Directive on US Global Development Policy) recommending greater coherence between trade and aid policy.
The US is a strong player back on the map, according to the Ethiopian Review.
The United States is missing its opportunity to get in on the clean energy gold rush, while other countries seize the opportunity.
HAITI:
Why Not Do for Haiti Now What We’ve Already Done for Africa? Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Bill Nelson (D-FL) recently introduced legislation to improve opportunities for Haiti to export to the United States. However, the proposals being floated so far do not address the fundamental problem and still lack long-term recovery ambitions.
Most experts say Haiti’s history as an aid recipient has made it a poster child for how not to administer development assistance. So it is not surprising that ordinary Haitians would be cynical about the prospects of post-earthquake aid being substantially different from the past. Despite an estimated nine billion dollars in aid over the years, Haiti remains near the bottom of global poverty and development indexes.
NGOs Ask USAID: What About Non-Haiti Programs? The UN has expressed concern that the donor community–particularly the US– has forgotten about other crises and is only focused on Haiti.
AFRICA:
Kenya has lost out on more than $270 million in funding for HIV and malaria treatment from the Global Fund on Aids, TB and Malaria.
Sudanese officials met with representatives of the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to discuss $36 billion of debt relief and the possible cancellation of sanctions against Sudan.
OTHER GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT NEWS:
Global Washington member Agros International was featured in CATALYST Design Magazine. This article features a case study of Agros’ work in Central America, and it shows how Agros’ development model embodies the principles of a sustainable, holistic, and strategic solution to poverty.
Developing country debt loads are becoming unsustainable due to IMF and World Bank lending, and this looks like déjà vu all over again.
Millions Fed is a new book recently released by IFPRI (the International Food Policy Research Institute), which examines successes in agricultural development over the past 50 years. This book offers a counterpoint to criticisms of green revolution-type development programs, such as the Gates Foundation’s agricultural development program.
Posted on February 11, 2010
In the wake of the devastating earthquake in Haiti on January 12, 2010, an enormous international effort was launched to rebuild and relieve the many humanitarian demands resulting from the earthquake. So far, “the international aid effort is failing to meet the earliest goals pronounced by the United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon” according to the New York Times’ Neil MacFarquhar.
In his article “Haiti Is Again a Canvas for Approaches to Aid,” MacFarquhar examines the different methods of effective foreign aid and solutions to some of the problems in effecting sustainable development. This article raises some questions as to how to develop and implement an effective aid system: Who should oversee development efforts, foreign governments and NGOs or the local government? To what extent should foreign governments be involved in directing the flow of foreign aid? What areas of development should receive priority over the rest?
Along these lines, Global Washington has drawn on the international development expertise of our supporters from the academic, non-profit, philanthropic and business communities to develop four principles of aid effectiveness that would address the problems of the current foreign aid system:
1. Transparency and Accountability: to make information on strategy, goals and spending easily available to U.S. taxpayers and international beneficiaries, thereby increasing accountability.
2. Consolidation and Coordination: to make sure efforts are not duplicative and are able to meet articulated goals as well as ensure non-aid policies, such as diplomacy, defense and trade, complement aid goals.
3. Local Ownership: to ensure that aid aligns with local priorities, builds local capacity and promotes local economies.
4. Targeting: to direct aid at reducing poverty, especially in the world’s poorest countries
These four principles, if implemented as part of a framework for reform, would combine to strengthen the foreign aid system, making it both more effective and more efficient. To learn more these principles and our recommendations for foreign aid reform, please visit our website to read our white paper here.